LaLa Land

Posted by parhad on September 24, 2001 at 06:49:01:

Just got here. It's three in the morning. Los Angeles can be quite pleasant when you can't see it.

I was just reminded that my generation has "been here" before. I mean being lied to by our government. I guess we're now as desperate to believe, and as afraid for our "way of life" and children as our parents were in the 60's.

In 1966 I was one year out of high school, living in San Francisco where my Lady faire was attending the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit University. I can't remember how it happened but we wound up on night at the Student Union building where a scruffy looking guy in Army jacket was talking to a small group of students. He was a Marine just back from a place called Vietnam. In high school the year before a teacher had mentioned a War we might get pulled into, but the recollection was vague.

The ex-Marine was telling us about all that was wrong with this "war" against women and children and old men in pajamas who'd been fighting for their freedom for generations, first against the Chinese, then the French and now just starting with the United States. He said the war was unwinable, would mire the country down in the swamps and bogs to no good end etc. I recall one skeptic said, "do you expect us to believe that our government, our president and cabinet officers are lying to us...and you are telling the truth?"

As it turned out they WERE lying. President Johnson lied when he said a Vietnamese patrol boat had attacked a US naval vessel in the Gulf of Tonkin, which caused a doubting but fearfull Congress to vote him the same War Powers that Bush just got...and years later Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara would write a book to clear his conscience, addmitting that he knew from the start, or very soon after, that the war in Vietnam couldn't be won and was a mistake, even as young men kept dying and millions had their lives snuffed out for "nothing".

Presidents LIE all the time, so do Secretaries of War (Defense). They aren't telling the American public the truth about how much the CIA had to do with creating these monsters and the conditions which led up to last week. Instead Americans are being fed a dose of the same patiotic crap we were in 1966 and 68 and 70. By the time we figured out something was screwy, and it's FAR more screwy now...this nation was committed to a course of action we all regretted years later...well, not ALL. NorthAmerican Rockwell, Northrup, FMC, Chrysler Corp and hundreds of others profited, as many will today.

Resist this drumbeat to arms which once again seeks to make freedom of thought, let alone speech, a mark of "betrayal"...when it's the ONE thing that makes America what it is.

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: Just got here. It's three in the morning. Los Angeles can be quite pleasant when you can't see it. : I was just reminded that my generation has "been here" before. I mean being lied to by our government. I guess we're now as desperate to believe, and as afraid for our "way of life" and children as our parents were in the 60's. : In 1966 I was one year out of high school, living in San Francisco where my Lady faire was attending the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit University. I can't remember how it happened but we wound up on night at the Student Union building where a scruffy looking guy in Army jacket was talking to a small group of students. He was a Marine just back from a place called Vietnam. In high school the year before a teacher had mentioned a War we might get pulled into, but the recollection was vague. : The ex-Marine was telling us about all that was wrong with this "war" against women and children and old men in pajamas who'd been fighting for their freedom for generations, first against the Chinese, then the French and now just starting with the United States. He said the war was unwinable, would mire the country down in the swamps and bogs to no good end etc. I recall one skeptic said, "do you expect us to believe that our government, our president and cabinet officers are lying to us...and you are telling the truth?" : As it turned out they WERE lying. President Johnson lied when he said a Vietnamese patrol boat had attacked a US naval vessel in the Gulf of Tonkin, which caused a doubting but fearfull Congress to vote him the same War Powers that Bush just got...and years later Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara would write a book to clear his conscience, addmitting that he knew from the start, or very soon after, that the war in Vietnam couldn't be won and was a mistake, even as young men kept dying and millions had their lives snuffed out for "nothing". : Presidents LIE all the time, so do Secretaries of War (Defense). They aren't telling the American public the truth about how much the CIA had to do with creating these monsters and the conditions which led up to last week. Instead Americans are being fed a dose of the same patiotic crap we were in 1966 and 68 and 70. By the time we figured out something was screwy, and it's FAR more screwy now...this nation was committed to a course of action we all regretted years later...well, not ALL. NorthAmerican Rockwell, Northrup, FMC, Chrysler Corp and hundreds of others profited, as many will today. : Resist this drumbeat to arms which once again seeks to make freedom of thought, let alone speech, a mark of "betrayal"...when it's the ONE thing that makes America what it is.

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